Pleyel String Concertos, Volume 1.

As a violinist, I am very familiar with the name Pleyel, and it is a pleasure to discover that his compositions for cello and orchestra are as tuneful and entertaining to listen to as his violin duets and string quartets are to play.

The Erdődy Chamber Orchestra directed by the soloist, Péter Szabó, play modern instruments stylishly, with the cello nicely pitched at the front of the sound picture. The works are possibly more virtuosic than the Haydn concertos, but none seems to pose any problem to Szabó, who edited four of the pieces and wrote his own cadenzas for four of them. The set is labeled ‘Complete String Concertos Vol. 1’: I look forward to hearing the next installment.

BC

Early Music Review
June 2003